Tag Archive for: featured

Song We Like: Losing Form by Polly Panic

Song We Like: Losing Form by Polly Panic


In these post-Polly-Harvey days, a girl like Polly Panic needs to do more than just whack you on your head with her cello. She needs to whack you on your head with two cellos, that are mic’ed up to sound scarier than Metallica. We love it.

Song We Like: I Hear the Dead by Dolly Spartans

Song We Like: I Hear the Dead by Dolly Spartans


Solid indie music that has something interesting to say. The chorus of this song makes Johnny P’s eyes roll back into his head with ecstasy.

Song We Like: Adeline by The Tenders

Song We Like: Adeline by The Tenders


It’s slow and fast and loud and soft, a crooning song about gun violence, with 50s harmonies and 90s guitars. Everything they attempt to do here probably shouldn’t work but it really does.

Song We Like: Two Golden Coins by Creature and the Woods

Song We Like: Two Golden Coins by Creature and the Woods

You can’t hear it yet. Because it’s not released yet. But we love it and you can hear it on our #44 podcast 😉

Song We Like: Skin by Years at Sea

Song We Like: Skin by Years at Sea


Expanding the range of post-hardcore with some truly interesting drums that have almost a steel-drum kind of note (John calls them ‘tinny-tommy’ drums).

Band Marketing Tip: DM. Because you can.

Band Marketing Tip: DM. Because you can.

At the moment, DM works. If you want to reach a bar or a promoter or a music magazine, and — importantly — you can figure out the actual right person to talk to, DM them. Here’s why they’ll probably respond: chances are that that person (who is in the business of promotion) is working on building up his or her ‘personal brand’, and people who are building up their ‘personal brand’ are encouraged to respond to all of their messages. (Even all of their comments. It’s a dreary biz.) So, DM them. Note that we’re currently in a window in which people trust the content coming in via that medium, but it won’t last. Probably soon people will hate DM as much as email, but for now they don’t seem to…

Song We Like: Combat Rock by Winnie Richards/Billy Ghost

Song We Like: Combat Rock by Winnie Richards/Billy Ghost


Top notch lyrics plus a little-girl-singing-from-the-bottom-of-a-hole sound gets real good when they add some swingin beats and thick strings and stuff halfway through. Really nice choices.

Spotify, Pandora, Amazon and Google want to Sue You

Spotify, Pandora, Amazon and Google want to Sue You

Hey, guess what? Music behemoths are forming an army of giants in order to fight you and your band. That is something that you should probably take as a compliment, but it is also, obviously, nuts. Spotify, Pandora, Amazon and Google are literally crying to the DC Court of Appeals that they will go under if they pay artists the 44% increase that the Copyright Royalty Board is asking for over the next four years. We at HLYCRP don’t pay attention to stuff like this as a rule, because it’s bonkers, and also mean. But it’s an interesting slice of where the world is at right now. If you write good songs, or record good music, then you are the ones they’re after… just something to think about. (This image is “The Giant” by Goya.)

Post 4: Songs We Like: Bleedin Out (New Wave) by Tongues of Fire

Post 4: Songs We Like: Bleedin Out (New Wave) by Tongues of Fire

I think I grew up with so much New Wave in my brain that I can’t distinguish New Wave from the sounds of birds singing. To me it just sounds good. John says New Wave means ‘catchy’, so clearly he has no idea either. Good job to Tongues of Fire. Find it here.